Singapore International Water Week 2024 : Reflections

Listening to Handel’s water music on a wet morning in Singapore seemed apt reflecting upon time spent? at the recent Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) 2024 where I gained much from the presentations given and conversations shared.?

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Having been involved since 2009 working with a diversity of its stakeholders, It was great to see the event? return in full force for the 2024 edition,? bringing together? many of the world’s water stakeholders together without COVID-era restrictions. ?

With no need for COVID tests, face masks and? TraceTogether activation, this was an? appreciated development I felt aided? better networking (even if it was certainly good too not to see anyone coughing or sneezing). It was thus a more open and natural atmosphere for interactions between stakeholders of the Water Industry, ranging widely from world leaders to equipment suppliers, at this event.

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Insights from the Lee Lian Yew Water Awards Dinner

The SIWW started for me with the Lee Kuan Yew Water Awards? 2024 where it was an honour meeting the laureate Professor Gertjan Medema, and later hearing from Singapore’s President?Tharman Shanmugaratnam his thoughts on addressing the world’s water challenges. President Tharman pointed out that the water industry needed to organise and generate demand for the existing technologies available that could solve water challenges whilst public policy was needed? that incentivised demand and positive change by water users.? Collectively, there was a need to value water more properly and subsidise access for the poor, whilst implementing measures to avoid? excessive use of water by larger users,, especially industrial users. Businesses could also invest upstream more to solve this large challenge of the commons.?

Penetration of advanced water technologies?

From various conversations, it was surprising to be informed that even in an advanced country like #Japan, the penetration rate of ceramic membrane based water treatment technology was in the low single digit, with the majority of utilities? still using polymeric membrane based water treatment technologies. Though multifarious, legacy reasons and CAPEX? vs OPEX considerations seem key reasons for the lack of adoption. The logic otherwise of employing ceramic membrane based technology (where in some plants these have kept operational for more than 25 years in continuous use and still going without breakage to date) seems clearly superior otherwise to using more easily degradable polymeric membranes that require replacement on average every 5 years if not less. How these used polymeric membranes are disposed of in their thousands? creates their own environmental issues (be they burned or buried), which few discuss given most waterworks still employ them. Just as society is slowly shifting away from the idea of freely-used plastic bags? for environmental reasons, I sincerely hope the same mindset can be applied soon to water treatment from consumers, utilities companies and government alike.?

PWNT T stood out at the Water Expo by offering world-leading ceramic membrane-based drinking water technologies that have been validated at full-scale worldwide, including in Singapore at the Choa Chu Kang Waterworks. PWNT’s CeraMac?? technology use cutting edge ceramic membranes supplied by METAWATER Co., Ltd , whose membranes were mentioned previously? to be operational? after more than 25 years of continuous usage and still going strong.?

Though requiring a higher initial investment, plants using such technology can be operated at a lower lifetime cost and more sustainably in the production of drinking water.?

I hope to see such technology represented in a majority of? municipal drinking water plants? in my lifetime. PWNT is now part of Nijhuis Saur Industries and SAUR R, which opens up new market opportunities leveraging on the wider resources of these much larger and longer-established entities to enable greater? water impact worldwide.?

Worthy of mention is the existence of of a Water Utilities Alliance consisting of water utilities worldwide using PWNT’s SIX?? and CeraMac? technologies allowing knowledge exchange for the development of better and more sustainable water treatment strategies and processes.? Such collaborations on a global level are a heartening development positively impacting the lives of millions of people needing reliable access to? clean water.?

Challenges to Water access and availability?

It remains shocking? how many people? -? 1 in 3 worldwide, according to the WHO - still lack access to clean drinking water, which leads to? disease and death. Conversely, clean drinking water is often taken for granted in more developed countries.?

In some areas, water scarcity is so drastic it has led to desperation and conflict; no wonder water has been coined as blue gold.?

Water catchment and storage are certainly issues to be addressed, with many countries receiving too much water in bursts that cannot be stored for the drier months of the year. With global warming, more moisture now circulates in the atmosphere that is dumped as devastating rain in regions causing floods and destruction.? It was not unusual? therefore to receive requests for reservoir construction solutions, in addition to requests for water treatment technologies. ?

Preventing pollution at source would help, with better monitoring and detection for sure before pollutive (even deadly) waste is dumped into water sources; such pollution then makes the cost of treating such water much higher and thus less affordable to economically disadvantaged people who suffer a higher risk of illness hindering livelihoods; this is a vicious spiral that governments must do their best to prevent through stricter monitoring and detection.?

Speaking of waste being dumped into catchments,? the issue of? Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) was also discussed.? Apart from? highly pollutive agricultural waste, the development of industry has meant the synthesis of a class of chemicals known as “Forever-chemicals” due to their difficulty of destruction.?

Fortunately, the? technology to capture and destroy PFAS is not just available but mature, with providers such as @Aqquarden having developed the technology more than a decade ago. Unfortunately, not all polluters treat and remove PFAS from their waste water streams before discharge into water catchments. ?

Given the danger PFAS? poses to health, preventing it from entering our drinking water streams is essential; it is however highly? challenging given the prevalence of such chemicals in the production of everyday items. Ideally destroyed at source, early detection and removal of PFAS in drinking water is vital before health issues occur within a populace.?

Funding for Water

There seems no lack of technologies to address water related issues

However, in many cases of need and with many causes including political at play, it is ultimately the lack of funding that denies a populace of clean drinking water. ?

A more complete solution for the delivery of clean drinking water cannot exclude funding solutions therefore. Joint investment models between governments, commercial organisations and even NGOs would help in providing clean drinking water to more people in need, bearing in mind the financing of a value? chain involving water capture, storage, treatment and distribution.? Having water piped into homes would also also resolve issues of safety for many who must otherwise obtain water from? isolated or disputed water sources, especially for women. Time saved from fetching water would also lead to an overall rise in productivity and living standards.?

Unlocking financial? liquidity for water is an essential? part of the overall solution.?

It was interesting to speak with World Bank representatives about how the organisation was? supporting governments with water infrastructure.?Here's an insightful report to share about "Scaling up finance for water" you could benefit from.

Carbon?

It was also heartening? meeting exhibitors delivering solutions for water treatment in rural areas. ? In still too many countries of the world, people have to burn firewood to boil and disinfect water for drinking, driving deforestation. Aquatabs is? a water purification tablet that takes away the need for boiling (though still needing sediment filtration) that kills water borne organism that cause diseases such as cholera and typhoid. Till larger scale solutions are implemented, such solutions offer a lower carbon alternative to disinfecting water.

Unity in aims, diversity in approaches.?

It was wonderful meeting with old friends from the water industry I've known for more than a decade from a diversity of countries and water backgrounds, all with unique? experiences and expertise in water.? Although? there may be differences in technology,? viewports and strategies, it was certainly heartening to feel that all are united in the same cause of solving the world’s water challenges, informed by science and data.?

This was certainly a great time to remember dear friends and former colleagues, including former team members with appreciation for their contributions to the water cause. (A special shout out to Debbie Middendorp , Arjen Nauta and Pieter Spohr for the special memories).

Water leadership for? in a world with growing populations, shrinking resources?

Due to? Singapore’s small size and dense population -? we are the most densely populated sovereign nation in Asia, statistically - Singapore has learnt and? applied? many water lessons given the recognition of its existential importance from Singapore’s conception , ensuring sufficient water for drinking and industrial use through the prudent Four Taps approach. Lessons continue to be learnt, and I certainly am proud of the leadership and far-sightedness of?the PUB, Singapore's National Water Agency in bringing together the world’s water leaders? and stakeholders since 2009 for the SIWW to solve what remains one of humanity’s greatest challenges? -? the universal availability of clean water.?

In closing, I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to? share about? sustainable and advanced drinking water solutions at the SIWW to parties I hope benefit from the technologies one day to bring clean water to their constituents, proudly working alongside Clément Pierart , Holly Shorney-Darby, PE, PhD , Elisabeth Vaudevire and Martin Spruijt .

Despite the scale of the world’s water challenges, we can all be water champions in our own way everyday; this includes educating our children to conserve water as part of developing an ethos to appreciate water better.?

After all, throughout the known world, there is no life without water.? If providing clean water to all is the mission, certainly more must and can be done in the days to come.

#Water watertreatment